Monstrous Maud: Big Fright – A.B.Saddlewick

Don’t let the pink cover fool you, this is no girly book (although it’s not just for boys either!). Maud doesn’t fit in with her classmates. She finds things like her pet rat Quentin interesting, the others prefer ballet (including her twin sister). While Maud is fascinated by dead bugs, her twin and the other girls are engrossed in their tutus. So when Maud gets transferred to Rotwood School, should she be scared? It is in the middle of the dark woods after all, the bus driver is not exactly chatty and her classmates are…odd. Or will she fit right in after all?

It’s nice to find a book aimed primarily at girls which isn’t girly! Maud is brave and clever and a genuinely very nice character, even to her sister, who’s always disgusted by Maud’s lack of ballet skills and disregard for fluffy things. Even better it’s the first in a new series too! I’d say it’s better for readers who aren’t just starting out to read on their own from Phonics, the chapters and some of the words could be a little difficult for them to tackle as their first ‘proper’ book. For more confident readers, the chapters are short and nicely laid out with nice big type. Plus there are neat, rounded illustrations at the start of each chapter to help break it up a bit, without giving away what’s going to happen. One to take note of I think.